SINGAPORE yesterday imposed a limit on sales of The Economist magazine and said it would cut its circulation unless it published the Government's views.
A government order said The Economist's circulation would be limited to the present level of 7,500 because the magazine refused to publish the Government's response to a letter from an opposition politician.
''The Government will reduce this circulation progressively, beginning with the issue of 14-20 August 1993, unless The Economist publishes the reply,'' the order said.
With effect from September 6, The Economist's exemption from the need to apply for a permit will also be revoked. That will require the magazine to submit a security deposit of S$200,000 (about HK$959,000).
In a letter carried in the July 10-16 issue, Joshua Jeyaretnam wrote that he suffered ''grievous injustice'' from court convictions for fraud and described the convictions as ''all wrong in law''.
In the same issue was an edited version of a reply by the Singapore High Commissioner to a report in the June 26-July 2 edition about the prosecution of five people for violating Singapore's Official Secrets Act.
The five have been charged with illegally revealing 1992 second-quarter economic data before it was officially announced. They pleaded not guilty.